philadelphia

it has recently come to my attention how many people actually read this blog. it's encouraging and a bit embarrassing. i'm also asking myself whether i should censor myself  more, or to just make bolder statements. it's making me feel more self conscious. i need to be a little more responsible with what i'm saying. Brian Hyon it's all your fault! i'm totally kidding. i'm flattered that there are random (and not random) people reading my blog. thank you, closet readers!

but BHyon has brought it to my attention that i've been writing with so much anger lately, so i'll switch to a more happier tone, which will be easy because this past week was the best week ever this summer! there were so many good things that happened, the weather was great, and my slimy, arrogant, creepy boss was not there all week!! HIGH FIVE. but we will be ending on a rather depressing note.

 how can you not be happy when 

you have clouds like this all week??

top events of the week:
1. the week started out with a great previous weekend at the beach with my lovely girls who graduated <3

 New Jersey Beach, i don't care how much crap you

get from people. i will always love you and the unflattering

bodies (including mine) that inhabit your sandy shore :)

2. i got my ears pierced. shhhh don't tell my parents. tee heeee :3

3. i helped a camp across the street from where i work install their adorable, colorful Painting and Sculpture Garden. these kids, mostly from lower income families, have so much spunk! i wish i had more time to spend with them. the camp was called Artology because their curriculum connects Art with Science. SO CUTE.

4. a couple weeks ago, i came up with an idea to curate a mini-exhibit in an empty room we have in our mansion at work. since my organization is underfunded and dirt poor, we had no money to carry out my idea. so i took a gamble and wrote a grant proposal. and guess what? I GOT THE GRANT! so i have $1000 from the National Trust of Historic Sites to curate my own exhibition! this is really exciting and i'll definitely be busy these next few weeks because i'm literally curating this by myself!

5. HARRY POTTER. my childhood has officially come to a close. this is so depressing! i want to read the books all over just so i can pretend i'm still in high school...

6. a day at Wissahickon Valley Park with friends. we waded across a stream. i pretended i was Pocahontas.

other things on my mind:
everyday when i take the train to work, i pass through North Philadelphia. this region of the city looks like a scene straight out of the movie, I Am Legend. vines crawl around the rotting carcasses of abandoned buildings. once in a while you see dinosaur-like tractors and cranes devour bricks and steel. it's haunting and incredibly frightening how empty the view from my window is for about 15 minutes. a couple days ago, i had to walk around the desert like streets when i was running an errand for work and never in my life have i been so nervous walking around in broad daylight. how can we heal Philadelphia? how do we prevent blight? how did this happen here?